The ADB has declared public support for the government’s “New Revival” policy. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has assisted in providing Mongolia over USD 3.9 billion in financing over the years, supporting development in key sectors across the national economy. Recently, Mongolia was paid a visit from country coordinator for the ADB Pavit Ramachandran, along with an ADB Senior Urban Development Specialist. As part of assistance with the “New Revival” program, the ADB is expected to provide additional fundings for public transportation upgrades, an urban revival program, a rural development program, as well as green development initiatives. The rural development program is planned to provide new funding for small and medium local businesses in rural areas of the country. There are also plans to move forward with development on a “satellite city” outside of the capital Ulaanbaatar in hopes of relieving urban congestion in Mongolia’s largest city.

A conference on “Government Productivity Recovery” was hosted this week, by the Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs in cooperation with the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At the conference, current Justice Minister Kh.Nyambaatar gave a statement emphasizing key measures to be taken by the government as part of a new government restructuring initiative. Major overhauls to the government structure, budgeting, and investment processes are expected with an emphasis on improvements in overall productivity of government programs. The overhaul is aimed at increasing online access to public services, removing bureaucracy and red-tape, and devolving some current functions of government to public-private partnerships, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

The government has identified over 90 separate projects to be pursued under the “New Revival” initiative, requiring an estimated 100 trillion MNT in total. The private sector is able to help bear some of these costs.

Also, this past week, the Government of Mongolia met with representatives of the United Nations to discuss the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. At the meeting, participants reviewed proposed development aide which may be offered from various UN agencies. At the meeting, both sides discussed a five-year plan for 20 UN affiliated agencies to promote governance focused on the people, population welfare, and sustainable economic development.